Perth: India recovered from a patchy start to reduce Australia to 277/6 on the opening day of the second Test but the hosts still walked out with advantage considering the bowler-friendly conditions, here Friday.
A 112-run opening stand between Marcus Harris (70, 141b, 10×4) and Aaron Finch (50, 105b, 6×4) vindicated their decision to bat on green top before Indian bowlers made a decent recovery by taking three wickets each in the last two sessions.
With the pitch offering better assistance from the post lunch session and the Indian bowlers managing to rectify their line and length, the visitors made inroads into the Australian batting line-up. Skipper Tim Paine (16 batting) and Pat Cummins (11 batting) were unbeaten at stumps after enduring a testing spell from Jasprit Bumrah. Pacer Ishant Sharma (2/35) and spinner Hanuma Vihari (2/53) took two wickets apiece while Bumrah (1/41) and Umesh Yadav (1/68) accounted for one batsman each.
Following a good start, Shaun Marsh (45) and Peter Handscomb (7) looked to extend their fourth-wicket partnership but could only manage to add three runs as Sharma broke through early in the final session. Handscomb looked to cut away too close to his body, and Virat Kohli held a stunning one-handed catch at second slip to dismiss him in the second over after tea. Marsh and Travis Head (58, 80b, 6×4) then added 84 runs for the fifth wicket, and in doing so took Australia past 200 in the 69th over. India could have broken through early, but Rishabh Pant put down a regulation catch from Marsh (on 24) off Vihari in the 67th over.
India were looking in bother again when Marsh fell against the run of play, trying to cut Vihari and edging to first slip where Ajinkya Rahane made no mistake. Head reached his third Test half-century off 70 balls but threw it all away as he square cut a wide delivery off Sharma six overs later and was caught at wide third man.
